i keep going back to the 1990s, who would ever look at bill clinton and think -- would look at bill clinton and newt gingrich as the models of, you know, of compromise in the age of impeachment. but those guys did not like each other at the beginning of the process. in fact, they hated each other in '94. but they spent four years behind closed doors, you know, knocking each other's heads. they figured out how to balance the budget together. and they will both say it. the president will say to gingrich, gingrich will say to the president, four years in a row for the first time since the '20s, and the president is flying off today to a campaign rally. i'm rooting for the president. i am. i'm rooting for boehner. i really am. i want them to all succeed. i want us to avert this crisis. it depresses me, though, the way the president's team is having him perform on the national stage. i think this is a bad mistake. >> i think it's too early to tell. "national review's" jim garrity, thank you. eugene robinson, thank you as well. your post is online at washingtonpost.com. >> can we go to richard? w